Israel’s current actions have created a huge wave of anti-Semitism worldwide, with some people seeking revenge. This is very wrong and not very clever. Racism against Jews is abhorrent. However boycotting Israeli goods to bring economic pressure on their government is an excellent idea.

Now we have have got that clear we should look at the various areas where comparisons can be drawn. But first remember the scale, Israel has just 8 million people and is just 8,000 square miles. Nazi Germany at its height contained hundreds of millions of people and encompassed a great deal of Europe.

Racial purity and superiority. This is the German “Master Race” or “Herrenvolk” philosophy that saw all other races as inferior or sub-human. The idea that they were Supermen or Übermensch was deeply rooted in German culture. Zionists in turn have the deeply rooted concept of chosenness, that they have been chosen, for a purpose, to have a covenant with God. And that everyone else hasn’t. Zionism is fundamentally racist, its basic tenent is that Israel is a homeland for the Jews, not for any lesser race. Jewish people in Israel are educated and brought up to believe that Palestinians are second class human beings. Yet with the wonders of modern genetics we now know that Jews and Palestinians are pretty much the same people! Just divided by their religion.

Use of Concentration camps. “A place which a government uses to keep people who are either against that government or who it thinks are too dangerous to remain free. Sometimes these are called internment camps, where a large number of people are put in prison without a trial”. The USA used these to suppress the Native Indian tribes. The British used them in South Africa as a tool to win the Boer War. Then Hitler used them in Germany to take his opponents out of circulation, 3.5 million Germans spent time in one of these camps. The Germans also had death or extermination camps for the industrialised implementation of the Holocaust. There is no doubt that Gaza is a concentration camp (some might say that it is now a death camp), the biggest ever in history with 1.8 million inmates, it fits the definition perfectly. These people are deprived of their basic human rights, they cannot leave the place. All Hamas want is to restore these rights.

Collective punishment. Firstly it is important to note that this is illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949. Nazis did it a lot. For every German killed by a Pole 100 to 400 Poles were shot. In France they burned down the village of Maillé and killed 124 inhabitants, 48 of whom were children, in reprisal for resistance activity. The IDF, as we are seeing, acts in exactly the same way. In less volatile times they still do it. If a child is caught throwing stones they bulldoze the family home. Thousands of homes have been destroyed for this and similar reasons. IDF actually has a formal strategy for collective punishment, called the Dahiya Doctrine, which they follow. Deliberately killing children and medical workers, destroying water and electric power distribution, bombing places of work and hospitals. All this is planned and part of policy.

Militarisation of the State. In Germany there was a huge limitation, imposed by the Versailles Treaty, on what equipment their military could have and how big their armed forces could be. Once Hitler got these out of the way he fashioned a society built round the military, from the Hitler Youth through to the grand military uniforms many people wore the idea was to invoke a warrior state. They turned an Olympic Games into a military ceremony. Today Israel is ranked as the most militarised nation in the world. There is no real need for this, they are very many times more powerful than all their neighbours put together. It is largely paid for by American taxpayers and donors. When you visit Israel soldiers are everywhere because nearly everyone is conscripted. And when they leave the military they remain in the reserves, in a high state of readiness. Militarisation is built into the everyday life of every Israeli in an all pervading manner that would be unthinkable anywhere else on earth. It is truly disturbing to see a society based on this, where the IDF has immense power over everyone’s lives.

There is far more, in fact there is easily a book or two in this. The article above contains many links that provide evidence and background reading. Please click through these if you want to build a broader picture for yourself. You can build your own ideas of how similar Nazism and Zionism are, but the facts above seem very compelling. Also remember that Zionism is not Judaisim and that anti-Semitism is always utterly unacceptable It is bad enough for our planet that Zionism is so shamefully racist against Palestinians. They seem to have no moral compass.

There are many of us who do care deeply what very high vibratory souls, like Sir Nicholas, have done and are still doing for children, animals and souls that need help. May we all thank Sir Nicholas for his courage and bravery at a desperate time when these children so needed him. And, may we learn and be encouraged always to put out our hands and help those in need and forget our needs and be selfless Whether you are Jew,Gentile,Arab Christian whatever nationality, religion. If you are peace loving and just wish to survive and have love for your fellow human. Because, in the end, there is only LOVE …….x

An Israeli isn’t too happy with my blog posts, especially the posts about last year’s assault on Gaza. (I’m not sure “war” is the proper term because it connotes greater parity between two military forces, which is certainly not the case between Israel and Palestine.)

He believes I’m inciting hatred (doesn’t know how to spell “incite”).

Not content that the war of last year, in fact it’s over a year since the last bomb was dropped or the last rocket fired and with much to write she decides to run a day by day dairy of last years war. Why? What does she hope to achieve by this?

So I thought I would answer him. Explain what I hope to achieve.

My daily postings about Israel’s 51-day assault on the Gaza Strip last summer are meant to remind us (anyone reading) of the horrific events of last year, to educate people about some of the details of the assault, and to stand in solidarity with my friends and every Palestinian in Gaza who endured the unthinkable last summer. You are not alone!

My Israeli critic writes that the war is over. It would be better to write about “positive events” such as the Palestinian/Israeli orchestra.

The war is over, for the time being lady, please start reporting on positivity and not your reports that are so full hatred. Thank you. Maurice Boland

BEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip—Eight months after last summer’s war between Israel and Palestinian militant groups, Gaza remains in ruins. Drive five minutes into the territory from the crossing point in southwestern Israel and you reach Beit Hanoun, one of the areas hit most severely by land and air during the conflict. Bright blue sky spreads over buildings with big bites taken out of them. Half-eaten bedrooms and kitchens yawn open to reveal tangled wires, broken rock, and household goods: a slipper, a pack of sanitary pads, a ripped-up schoolbook. People peek over mounds of rubble from tents behind their former homes, like aliens come to settle an abandoned planet.

Awadallah expects the number of suicide cases to increase in the near future due to the deteriorating situation in Gaza. “There is no glimpse of hope for the Israeli siege to end or for the situation to improve. In the past, we used to say that Hamas’ employees in Gaza were not receiving their salaries; now the Palestinian Authority’s employees no longer receive their salaries. The situation is going downhill and the suicide attempts are bound to increase,” he said.

In recent months Israel has arrested about 20 boys trying to clamber across the border. Real prison, says Walid’s father, might be better than life in the open jail of Gaza. And if shot? Well, he laughs, a quick death is better than the slow one on offer.

These are just three of many, many stories coming from Gaza today. This past May, former President Carter visited Israel and Palestine, noting that the conditions in Gaza are deplorable.

So my Israeli critic wants the world to forget, to turn a blind eye away from the disaster in Gaza. Not a natural disaster. Not an unexpected disaster. What’s happening to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip today — right now — is a human-designed and engineered disaster. The responsibility lies squarely at the feet of the state of Israel, of the Israeli leaders, the IDF, the Israeli public, and people like Maurice Boland who prefer to bury their heads in the sand.